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WA apple industry faces grim future
13 Feb 2007
An industry leader has warned that Western Australia’s $36 million apple industry is on the verge of collapse and the state could go from being self-reliant to eating imports in less than a decade. Angelo Logiudice, WA Fruit Growers Association apple and pear chairman, said urgent rationalisation was needed to cut a serious oversupply, ensure sustainable returns to the state’s 300 or so growers and keep apple production for WA in WA. This year’s season is expected to surpass last year’s 36,000 tonnes but Mr Logiudice said that most of the fruit would end up as juice or being fed to stock. The value of WA’s apple exports fell from $8.9 million in 2002/03 to $3.3 million last season. "If we scale down and reduce quantities, then we should see some reasonable prices," he said. A report by the Department of Agriculture said the industry needed to investigate new markets and production methods to compete on the world scene. The Federal Government is funding a $1 million program to improve the competitiveness of Australian orchards by significantly increasing the density of new plantings, from 640 to 2,000 trees a hectare and lifting production from 20 to 45 tonnes a hectare.
The West Australian, 13/2/2007
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